Is this Lindsay Lohan's last shot?

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

Updated 1:03 PM ET, Fri August 2, 2013

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble – Lohan poses for a mug shot on Tuesday, March 20, after accepting 90 days in a "locked in" drug rehab facility for misdemeanor charges. Her six years of legal troubles trace back to two drunken driving arrests in 2007 and include other incidents in which she was behind the wheel.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble – Lindsay Lohan appears in court with her attorneys Anthony Falangetti, left, and Mark Heller in Los Angeles on Monday, March 18. She entered pleas of no contest on two misdemeanor charges relating to a traffic accident last summer, and she did not challenge the finding that she violated her shoplifting probation with those convictions.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble – Lohan's mug shot from July 2007 for driving under the influence.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble – Lindsay Lohan attends her probation hearing at the Airport Courthouse in March 2012 in Los Angeles. Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner decided to take Lohan off probation from a 2007 drunken driving case and said that she will no longer have to meet with a probation officer or appear in court on her 2011 shoplifting case, as long as she obeys all laws through May 2014.

Lindsay Lohan in trouble – Lohan's mug shot from October 2011 after she was arrested for probation violations. She was released after posting $100,000 bail.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble – Lohan is led away in handcuffs at her probation progress report hearing at the Airport Courthouse in October 2011.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble – Lohan cries next to her lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley as she is sentenced to 90 days in jail by Judge Marsha Revel during her hearing at the Beverly Hills Courthouse in July 2010. Lohan violated her probation in two 2007 drunk driving cases.

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Lindsay Lohan in trouble – Lohan poses for a booking photo after being arrested on DUI charges at Lynwood Jail in November 2007. Lohan voluntarily reported to the facility to serve her minimum 24-hour jail sentence that was part of a plea bargain for two DUI charges.

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Story highlights

Lindsay Lohan has new projects coming up, but critics savage new movie

A celebrity expert questions whether she can pull off diverse characters

Her "Canyons" director wrote that she is more talented than Marilyn Monroe

Remember when Lindsay Lohan was the next Ann-Margret?

Or Elizabeth Taylor? Or even Marilyn Monroe?

While that last comparison is still being bandied about -- for better or for worse -- today there is more buzz about "will she stay clean?" and "can she stay out of trouble?" than her talent.

Lohan's latest 90-day rehab stint, which ended this week, was taken as an alternative to three months of jail time for two misdemeanor convictions and a shoplifting probation violation finding in March.

Lindsay Lohan the actress seems to have been replaced by Lindsay Lohan the perpetual comeback kid.

And although she has continued to work sporadically, those roles have mostly been of troubled women, not unlike Lohan herself.

"At this point, we're not even sure she's still an actress," said Noah Levy, co-host of Vh1's "The Gossip Table." "Can Lindsay get sober and have a healthy and happy life? Of course she can. But can she be believable as a character that is not like herself? I don't know."

In "The Canyons," the new film written by Bret Easton Ellis ("American Psycho") and directed by Paul Schrader ("Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull"), Lohan plays Tara, a woman who has a lot going on -- not least of which is that her boyfriend (played by porn star James Deen) likes to invite other men and women home to have sex with them. The low-budget film had difficulties finding a distributor, and The New York Times documented Lohan's on-set antics, which nearly got her fired from the film before shooting even began.

"The Canyons" is set to be released this week via video on demand, and it has been savaged by critics for both the film and Lohan's acting.

"Lohan's performance is certainly terrible, but her steady slide started long ago," wrote IndieWire's Eric Kohn. " 'The Canyons' has nothing on the awesomely horrendous 2007 'I Know Who Killed Me,' a ultra-campy fusion of art house and crime movie tropes that fell apart in several directions at once."

Before that, Lohan made critics' hit list for her turn as Elizabeth Taylor in the made-for-television movie "Liz & Dick," about the late actress' love affair with Richard Burton. "Lohan, who has squandered years of promise and talent as a sullen-faced party girl and irregular arrestee, has been cut so many breaks, it's difficult to root for her anymore," Ken Tucker wrote in Entertainment Weekly.

"I think Lohan has more natural acting talent than Monroe did, but, like Monroe, her weakness is her inability to fake it," he wrote. "She feels she must be experiencing an emotion in order to play it. This leads to all sorts of emotional turmoil, not to mention on-set delays and melodrama.

"We call them "troubled," "tormented," "train wrecks" -- but we can't turn away. We can't stop watching. They get under our skin in a way that controlled performers can't."

Her father, Michael Lohan, recently told E! News he believes his daughter will be "another Robert Downey Jr.," referencing the Academy Award-nominated actor who famously turned around his life and career after several arrests and rehabs.

"I'm very, very proud of what she's accomplished, how far she's come and how seriously she's taking her sobriety and her future," he said.

So we'll watch. And we'll wait. But Lohan has been here before.

In 2012, a highly publicized guest appearance on "Glee" and shots of the actress dining with iconic director Woody Allen led to speculation that Lohan was on her way to a career resurgence. Then there was chatter that the actress was "a diva" on the "Glee" set, and nothing appeared to come of the chats with Allen. One year later, Lohan was back in rehab.

All the public can count on is that Lohan is willing to take any shot given to her.

"She is great at making attempts at a comeback," Levy said. "Is she great at having career longevity? The jury is still out."